Ondo PDP aspirants slam panel for bias

Fifty three Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) House of Assembly aspirants in Ondo State have accused members of the screening committee of compromise.

They alleged that the five-man committee connived with Governor Olusegun Mimiko to disqualify them.

The aspirants wondered why the committee cleared Mimiko’s “candidates”, who joined the party less than a month ago and disqualified those who had been in the party for more than a decade.

The aspirants described the committee‘s action as “voodoo politics” aimed at circumventing a court ruling that sacked the caretaker committee purportedly appointed by the PDP National Working Committee (NWC).

The aggrieved aspirants, in a statement in Akure yesterday, vowed to fight the injustice.

The statement said: “You will recall that our party is going through a trying period caused by the defection of the governor and his insistence on taking every space in the party.

“Following the pronouncement of the national body and in compliance with the election guidelines as approved, a screening committee for the House of Assembly was appointed.

“We filed in our documents and submitted the necessary papers and credentials requested of us. We equally attended the screening and provided every document demanded.

“To our dismay, the committee members checked out of their hotel abruptly and left our provisional clearance certificates in the hotel’s lobby.

“We were denied clearance on the ground that we have no tax receipts and NYSC discharge certificates. All the people on the governor’s list were expressly cleared.

“Even those who had Ordinary National Diploma (OND) on the governor’s list were cleared.

“Over 90 per cent of us are university and polytechnic graduates with our NYSC discharge certificates or exemption certificates duly attached to our nomination forms.

“We have it on good authority that the committee members left their hotel rooms at 9:40pm after the screening was concluded and came back at 12:22am.”

“We shall not allow this injustice go unchallenged.”

The lawmaker representing Irele/Okitipupa Federal Constituency at the National Assembly, Akintoye Albert, accused the governor of manipulating the screening.

At a briefing in Akure, the state capital, Akintoye alleged that Mimiko connived with the committee to manipulate the exercise in favour of his “aspirants”.

He urged the NWC to institute a new screening committee in the interest of peace and development.

“If this issue is not addressed urgently and if the recommendation of the screening committee is accepted by the NWC, I foresee danger.

“I foresee PDP losing the state. It is our collective desire that President Goodluck Jonathan wins in Ondo State and that PDP lawmakers dominate the House of Assembly.”